


we were dancing (like we're made of starlight)

by yeehawnarrie (Delavalliere)



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Happy Ending, M/M, Marriage Proposal, There's two seconds of obviously fabricated angst towards the end, but it barely lasts for a second
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-25
Updated: 2019-01-25
Packaged: 2019-10-16 04:49:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17542970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Delavalliere/pseuds/yeehawnarrie
Summary: So it starts like this: he and Harry are lounging about in their LA house when Niall realizes he wants to spend the rest of his life with him. And it’s not like he never thought about it, it’s that all those other times he thought of it as a sort of abstract concept. He wasn’t planning on leaving, and sure as hell Harry wasn’t either, so naturally they would be together forever. It never occurred to him that he wanted to marry Harry, officially, big ceremony with his ma crying and all. And that sort of takes him by surprise.So now he’s got into the idea of planning a perfect proposal. Sure, he could just ask Harry over dinner one night and have it done with, but he didn’t want that. After everything they went through to even be together, they both deserved a nice story to tell their future children and both their mothers. Also, Harry deserved better.#35 "I want to spend the rest of my life with you"





	we were dancing (like we're made of starlight)

**Author's Note:**

> This is unedited, so all mistakes (which I'm sure are many) belong to me.
> 
> The title is from Taylor Swift's song "Starlight" and has nothing to do with the story, I just like the song.

So it starts like this: he and Harry are lounging about in their LA house when Niall realizes he wants to spend the rest of his life with him. And it’s not like he never thought about it, it’s that all those other times he thought of it as a sort of abstract concept. He wasn’t planning on leaving, and sure as hell Harry wasn’t either, so naturally they would be together forever. It never occurred to him that he  _wanted_  to marry Harry, officially, big ceremony with his ma crying and all. And that sort of takes him by surprise.

So now he’s got into the idea of planning a perfect proposal. Sure, he could just ask Harry over dinner one night and have it done with, but he didn’t want that. After everything they went through to even be together _,_  they both deserved a nice story to tell their future children and both their mothers. Also, Harry deserved better.

* * *

 

First he gets the ring, which is stressful enough to almost make him drop the idea altogether, but he decides to man up -whatever that means- and pull through.

He visits so many jewelry stores he’s starting to dream silver and diamonds, and still none of the rings they show him are right. 

There are some big ones, full of encrusted diamonds and gold ornaments that he’s sure Harry would like on any other occasion but just don’t feel right for this. And then there’s the simple ones, plain bands on gold or silver with just a small engraving, but they’re boring. He wants Harry’s engagement ring to stand out against all his other rings.

Things go like this for a couple of months until one day he gets frustrated enough he calls Maura to vent to her, and a week later he gets UPS package with his grandpa’s wedding ring on it and no note. The ring is a band of yellow gold, old but still pretty, and instead of smooth it’s encrusted with small emeralds all around. It’s simple enough that it won’t look over the top, but also unique enough it won’t just get overlooked every time.

It’s just perfect, and Niall feels like crying.

 

* * *

 

With the ring taken care of, Niall moves to choosing a perfect date.

His mind runs through all the cliches: Valentine’s Day, and Anniversaries, and Birthdays. But none of them work.

For once, it’s the middle of April and Valentine’s Day and Harry’s birthday have long come and gone, and there’s no way he’s waiting another full year to do this. Their anniversary it’s in October and he’s not willing to wait that much either. And what kind of asshole proposes on  _their_  birthday?

So the cliches won’t do, which means he has to think of a date himself and his life it’s stressful enough already without having to plan around both their schedules.

But whatever, he has Harry’s calendar synchronized with his own on his computer, so one night he waits until Harry is fast asleep and he can hear his snoring and sneaks into their office.

Both their schedules are packed once the summer starts and it doesn’t stop until almost the Holidays. Which means he now has less than two months to get it all perfected, and it’s not ideal, but he’s gonna have to make due if he wants to be engaged before they have to spend four months apart with just a few days off in between. He can do it, of course he can.

He selects a weekend in June where none of them have nothing to do for the next week and puts it down in both their calendars as ‘date night’. They haven’t got one of those in a while and he guesses he can get away with it without Harry noticing anything weird, he knows how much he likes those.

Except he maybe cannot, because next morning, when he goes down to the kitchen where Harry is making breakfast, he just looks at him a bit funny and says:

“So, you added a date night on the calendar?”

And it’s not like Niall thought he wasn’t gonna notice that, it’s just that he had hoped it would take him longer than a couple hours and then he’d have time to think of a good enough excuse.

“Well yes, we haven’t got one in a while, I thought you’d like it,” he says, and Niall doesn’t like lying to Harry, not even if it’s to hide his secret proposal plans. It just feels wrong.

But Harry just nods with his head and hands him his coffee.

“You’re right, we’ve been too busy. We promised we’d have one date night a month and it’s been at least three since the last,” he says. Niall just nods back, taking a sip of his coffee. “So what are we doing?”

And well, this is the part Niall hasn’t figured out yet. And maybe he should have made a plan before deciding on that date, but he didn’t want to risk any of them scheduling something else on that day.

“I- I mean I…” he starts to say but he honestly has no idea what to say. And then he remembers there’s this hipster place Harry’s been meaning to check out but they never get time to, and so he goes with that. “I thought you’d like to go to that restaurant Jeff went a couple months ago?”

“Are you serious?” Harry asks, his face brightening like a child on Christmas morning. “You got reservations? Since when? My name’s been on the waiting list since November.”

Well, shit.

“Just talked with some folks, moved some influences, you know how it is,”

For a second he thinks he just got busted, but Harry only smiles bigger and kisses his cheek.

“I knew you were worth keeping around,” Harry says, a glint in his eyes Niall knows well.

And Niall almost feels too guilty for lying to enjoy when Harry goes down on his knees and gets his mouth on his hardening dick. Almost.

* * *

 

And if Niall thought getting the perfect ring was hard, nothing compares to the hell he goes through trying to make those damn reservations for that goddamned restaurant.

First, he tries the obvious one and calls the place, hoping that his name might give him some kind of privilege, but they either don’t know who he is, or they just don’t care. They promise to include him on the waiting list and call him if there are any cancellations, but Harry’s been on it longer and he hasn’t got any calls, so that’s no hope.

Then he calls his team and has them calling every famous person he knows to ask if they have a reservation they might want to change with him. But of course no one with a table wants to delay it for Niall’s antics, not even when they learn it’s for a proposal.

Lastly, he thinks about hacking into their booking system and putting his name on it, even gets as far as to look up for hackers online before realizing that’s probably a very stupid idea that’s gonna get him either scammed of his money or in jail. But by this point it’s already the beginning of June and he’s running out of time.

And it’s not really about the restaurant. He knows Harry would understand if he told him there was a change of plans or a mistake on the reservation. He just wanted everything to be perfect for him and now nothing is.

And as the day of their date night approaches Niall just continues to feel awful because their dinner it’s the only thing Harry talks about. Well, not quite, but he does talk about it with such excitement that it breaks Niall’s heart every time.

It’s until the day before that he manages enough courage to come clean to Harry about it all.

They’re in their kitchen eating pasta for lunch and it’s cozy enough with a rare sudden pour of rain hitting on their windows, but Harry keeps mentioning the suit he plans on wearing for their date and Niall just can’t anymore.

“There’s no restaurant reservations, Harry,” he says, voice almost cracking with frustration.

“What?” Harry asks. “Did they had to cancel?”

And really, Harry is offering him an easy way out. Just say that they canceled and get it done with, push his proposal for after the summer.

But he’s so tired with frustration that he just says, “There never were reservations, I lied.”

“What do you mean you lied? Why would you lie, Niall?”

And Niall is so exhausted with himself he doesn’t even try to come out with an excuse.

“Why did you lie, Niall?” Harry presses again and his voice sounds angry, but Niall knows he’s just disappointed, and that’s somehow even worse.

“Niall,” and it’s the almost scream that gets Niall back on his senses.

It’s at that point that he realizes there never was gonna be a perfect moment, not even if he somehow got himself a table on the restaurant. He’s sure he would have gotten there only to find something else that didn’t live up to his expectations and chicken out of the whole thing.

Because even though he knows he wants to spend the rest of his life with Harry, a part of him is worried Harry doesn’t want the same thing. So he made this whole “perfect” scenario on his mind as a way to prove Harry he was worth it, ‘please don’t leave me’.

But he can’t see it now, clear as day. And so he jumps out of his chair on the table and motions Harry not to move.

“Stay here, okay? Don’t go, I’ll explain all in a second,” he says before running for the stairs to the laundry room where he hid the ring because he knows Harry hates doing the laundry and would never go down there on his own.

When he comes back to the kitchen, ring safe inside his jeans pocket, he’s relieved to see Harry didn’t move. Sure, he’s standing there with his arms crossed over his chest and his mouth on a frown, but he’s still there and that’s what matters.

“I do have a reason why I lied,” he says, getting face to face with Harry. “But it’s a really stupid one and I don’t want you to make fun of me.”

“What are you even talking about, Niall?” Harry says, voice not even half as angry as before.

So now he’s here, in front of the love of his life, the weight of the ring on his pocket and there’s no five-star restaurant or expensive dinner. Hell, he was so caught up on his own bullshit he didn’t even remembered to write a speech. But this right here, them on their kitchen with the rain pouring outside and fresh out of a fight is as perfect as it goes.

“I love you, Harry. I’m sorry I was stupid enough to even make you doubt it for a second. I just couldn’t bear this not being perfect, but I was being stupid, it’s just perfect like this.”

“What-”

But Harry doesn’t get to finish his question, because Niall sinks down to his left knee in front of him and suddenly he can’t form words.

“Harry, you’re the most amazing man I’ve met in my life, and I’m the luckiest person alive for having the honor of knowing and loving you. You’re my best friend, my life partner, the man I’ve loved before I even knew what true love felt like. You’re the one person I can’t imagine my life without,” he starts saying, voice already cracking with emotions. “And it hasn’t been easy, you and I, and I know there’s been times when it would have been easier to just quit it, go different ways, but I’m so happy you decided to stay every single one.”

“Niall…” Harry begins to say, but Niall cuts him.

“And I love you so much, Haz, I couldn’t begin to explain to you how much. I love you and your ridiculous suits, and your hundreds of rings, and those necklaces you wear. I love the way you talk and your laugh, and I love the way you hold my hand at night when we go to bed. I love you with my entire self and, if you don’t mind, I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

And Niall looks at Harry’s eyes, shiny with tears, as he presents him with the ring. “So, Harry Edward Styles, would you marry me?”

He doesn’t get an answer. Instead, he gets an armful of Harry, arms around his neck and his face in the crook of his neck. He can feel his tears on his skin and wetting his shirt, but he doesn’t mind one bit. He already knows the answer anyway, always did.

So he just holds him there.

“I still hate that you lied to me, whatever the reason,” Harry says after a couple minutes, eyes still teary but smiling. “But yes, I wanna marry you, Niall Horan. I’d do it every day of my life if you let me.”

“Reckon that’d be too expensive even for you,” Niall says as he slides the ring in Harry’s middle finger, admiring how it just fits with him.

“Don’t lie to me ever again.”

“I won’t even try, I promise.”

Harry looks at him with those eyes that render him useless just a second before their lips collapse with one another. The kiss sweet and passionate all at the same time, perfect with the years of practice, both of them perfectly in sync with each other.

And it isn’t the perfect proposal like Niall planned, but it is perfect all the same. And if Niall lets Harry do all the wedding planning it’s just for the greater good, really.

**Author's Note:**

> Is this some sort of AU? Is this a canon compliant? Who knows? I sure af don't.
> 
> This is part of a writing challenge I'm doing over at my [Tumblr](http://www.narriewithane.tumblr.com), so if you'd like to go there and leave a [prompt](https://narriewithane.tumblr.com/tagged/100-ways-challenge/chrono) that'd be greatly appreciated. 
> 
> Feel free to leave behind all you constructive criticism and commentary, I need it.


End file.
